Property Tax Montana: County Ratios, Homestead Tiers, and Mills

A typical Montana owner-occupant pays $2,693 a year in property tax on a home worth $375,800, about 0.72 percent of value, according to the Census Bureau’s latest five-year survey. Across 56 counties the ratio stretches from 0.41 percent in Madison County, home to Ennis and Virginia City, to 1.34 percent in Blaine County on the Hi-Line. This calculator multiplies the value you enter by your county’s ratio of median bill to median home value and shows the result beside what a typical local owner pays. Enter the market value from your Department of Revenue classification and appraisal notice, not the smaller taxable value printed with it.

The 2026 Split: Homesteads From 0.76%, Second Homes at 1.90%

Montana rewrote residential taxation in 2025. Through tax year 2024, every house was taxed at 1.35 percent of market value up to $1.5 million. House Bill 231 and Senate Bill 542 replaced that with a temporary three-tier schedule for 2025 and a permanent split starting with tax year 2026, the year billed in November 2026 and May 2027.

A home counts as a homestead if the owner lives in it at least seven months of the year; a long-term rental leased in stretches of 28 days or more for seven months also qualifies. Owners who received the 2025 rebate were enrolled automatically. For 2026, the Department of Revenue applies these marginal rates to a homestead’s market value:

• 0.76 percent on the first $378,000
• 0.90 percent from $378,001 to $756,000
• 1.10 percent from $756,001 to $1,511,999
• 1.90 percent on any value of $1,512,000 or more

The breakpoints track the statewide median residential value and its multiples. Everything else residential, meaning second homes, short-term rentals, and vacant lots, pays a flat 1.90 percent. Multifamily buildings rented long term pay 1.10 percent, and a house on qualified agricultural land pays 1.35 percent.

The result is a wide gap between neighbors. A $400,000 homestead has a taxable value of $3,070.80 ($378,000 at 0.76 percent plus $22,000 at 0.90 percent). The same house held as a cabin or vacation rental carries $7,600, nearly two and a half times as much, under the identical mill levy. For comparison, that home’s taxable value in 2024 was $5,400. A lower taxable value does not guarantee a lower bill, though: most local levies are set in dollars, so when taxable value shrinks, mills can rise to raise the same budget.

The State Appraises, Local Mills Decide the Bill

Montana does not leave valuation to its counties. The state Department of Revenue appraises every parcel on a two-year cycle, and the formula is short: market value times the class tax rate equals taxable value, and taxable value times total mills divided by 1,000 equals the tax. One mill is $1 for every $1,000 of taxable value, so on that $400,000 homestead each mill costs about $3.07 a year.

Counties, cities and towns, school districts, and fire and other special districts each set mills to fund budgets. Every property also pays 95 mills for K through 12 schools and 6 mills for the university system. The county treasurer adds it all up, mails the statement, and collects the money.

County Ratios, Madison at 0.41% to Blaine at 1.34%

In the ACS 2024 five-year data, the lightest ratios belong to Madison (0.41 percent), Carter and Judith Basin (0.45 each), Mineral (0.48), and Sweet Grass (0.49). The heaviest run along the northern tier and in the east: Blaine at 1.34 percent, Roosevelt at 1.28, Sheridan at 1.23, Valley at 1.18, and Dawson at 1.14. The middle county lands at 0.68 percent, and 31 of the 56 counties come in under the statewide 0.72.

Missoula County has the largest median bill, $4,150, even though Gallatin County has the priciest homes at a $667,600 median value. Wibaux County has both the lowest value, $98,600, and the smallest bill, $598.

Reservation counties need a caution. Land held in federal trust for tribes or tribal members is not subject to state or county property tax. The Census median bill is drawn only from owners who report paying one, while median value covers all owners, so in counties like Blaine, Roosevelt, and Big Horn the ratio probably overstates what a typical household owes.

Three runs through the calculator:

• Gallatin County (Bozeman), $600,000: 0.59 percent gives $3,540 a year, or $295 a month, which is $393 below the county’s $3,933 median bill.
• Yellowstone County (Billings), $350,000: 0.81 percent gives $2,835 a year, $236.25 a month, just $3 over the $2,832 median.
• The extremes at $400,000: Madison’s ratio gives $1,640 a year and Blaine’s gives $5,360.

Mind the timing. These surveys ran from 2020 through 2024, when every house paid the flat 1.35 percent rate. Treat the ratio as a baseline for an owner-occupied house and expect a vacation property, now at 1.90 percent, to come in well above it.

PTAP, Veteran Reductions, and the Elderly Credit

Montana has no flat dollar homestead exemption; the tiered rate is the homestead break. At least one site ranking for this search claims Montana offers a homestead exemption of up to $250,000; no such exemption exists. Relief comes from programs that cut the rate for qualifying owners:

• Property Tax Assistance Program (PTAP): a 30, 50, or 80 percent rate reduction for low-income owners who live in the home at least seven months. For tax year 2026, based on 2025 federal adjusted gross income, the ceilings are $29,943 for single filers and $40,131 for married couples or heads of household. Apply by April 15.
• Montana Disabled Veterans (MDV): a 50, 70, 80, or 100 percent reduction for veterans rated 100 percent disabled from a service-connected injury, or an unmarried surviving spouse. For 2026, 2024 income must be under $62,598 for a single veteran or $72,229 if married or head of household. A parallel program covers disabled first responders.
• Elderly Homeowner/Renter Credit: a refundable income tax credit of up to $1,150 for residents 62 or older with household income under $45,000, claimed on Schedule 2EC; it is refundable, so it pays out even when no income tax is owed.

The 2025 legislation also paid a one-time rebate of up to $400 on 2024 taxes to owners who had lived in their home at least seven months. The Legislature’s own summary calls that rebate one-time and describes the 2026 homestead tiers as the lasting relief.

Two-Year Reappraisal and the 30-Day Appeal Clock

Values for the 2025 and 2026 tax years were set as of January 1, 2024, and every owner received a new notice in 2025. The notice starts the clock. Within 30 days of the date printed on it you can file Form AB-26, a request for informal classification and appraisal review, with the Department of Revenue, or appeal directly to your County Tax Appeal Board through the county clerk and recorder. A change won on time applies to both years of the cycle. The department also accepted late AB-26 requests until June 1, 2026, but those adjust 2026 only. The county board, appointed by county commissioners and independent of the department, can be followed by the Montana Tax Appeal Board and then district court.

November 30, May 31, and Tax Liens

Under Montana Code 15-16-102, half of the year’s tax is due by 5 p.m. on November 30 (or 30 days after the statement is postmarked, if later) and the other half by 5 p.m. on May 31. Miss either date and the late half picks up a 2 percent penalty plus interest of five sixths of 1 percent a month. Unpaid taxes become a lien on the property. Under section 15-18-111 an owner generally has until the first working day in August three years after the lien attaches to redeem it, after which the property can be lost through a tax deed.

The 2027 Reappraisal and When These Numbers Refresh

A new two-year cycle starts with tax year 2027, so notices will arrive again next year with fresh market values, and because the homestead breakpoints are pegged to the statewide median residential value, expect the $378,000 line to move with them. On the ballot side, the 2026 initiatives to cap property tax growth at 2 percent were dropped before their sponsors mounted signature drives, so none reached the November 2026 ballot. Every ratio in the tool traces to the Census Bureau’s 2024 five-year county file, and a refresh follows its next release each December.

Sources: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 five-year estimates, table B25077 for median home value and table B25103 for median real estate taxes paid; Montana Department of Revenue pages on 2026 property tax information, homesteads, PTAP, MDV, the elderly homeowner and renter credit, and informal review and appeals; Legislative Services Division, HB 231 and SB 542 Property Tax Changes Summary (May 2025); Montana Code Annotated 15-16-102 and 15-18-111; Montana Budget and Policy Center on trust land status; Montana Free Press (June 2026) on ballot initiatives. Value questions go to the Department of Revenue; payment questions go to your county treasurer.